Getting Sliced on Tuesday January 3, 2006

All is a go!!! I didn't speak to my surgeon today as planned (he had an emergency surgery to perform). However, I spoke to the receptionist, who told me that he told her all is a go!!

Yipppeeee. I am so excited.

Surgery is scheduled for 11:30 am. Can't wait!!

I am SOON TO BE A FORMER FAT GIRL!!!

Random Marla Factoids

The Wizard of Oz is my all time favorite movie

Dusty Springfield's Son of a Preacher Man is my favorite song

I like reality tv - I love the Real World & American Idol

I watch or have watched: American Idol, The Simple Life, The OC, Laguna Beach, Made, Daisy Does America, as well as others.

I truly love watching the 24 hour marathon of A Christmas Story on Christmas Eve

I have been known to put ketchup on everything. It makes a great dip

I love Saturday Night Live - Molly Shannon was one of my fave cast members

I have seen the movie Back to the Beach 54 times

I saw Wayne's World 7 times when it came out in theaters

I had a crush on Ferris Bueller

I hate panty hose

I hate having my period

I failed my driver's license test the first time

At 25, I still don't like being in the basement of my parent's house at night by myself

I still sleep with my cabbage patch kid Anton

Every surgery I have had since I got Anton (I was four), he has been in the OR with me. When I have my Gastric Bypass he will come with me too.

I think Sean Connery is HOT

If I were married I would have an affair with Pierce Brosnan

Robert Redford is beautiful & Paul Newman has amazing eyes. We need to give Paul Newman's eyes to Robert Redford. That would be a beautiful man.

I actually like matzah

I hate gefilte fish & lox (smoked salmon)

I am still a virgin

I sleep naked

I had my first kiss @ 15 while at summer camp. The boy's name was Andy Becknal, and he was from Kentucky. He was adorable. We both had Doc Martens.

At one time my family had 9 guinea pigs. Lots of babies.

When I get a dog, I will name him Nigel

I admire my brother Ethan

I am envious of the fact that my brother is 6'4" and weighs 160 lbs.

I wear fur and love it. - Animals aren't just for food

I will buy a pair of Jimmy Choo's and Manolo's one day

I do not pick my nose

I love to drive

My favorite drink is Diet Coke with Malibu Rum and a lime - but I have given up diet soda and alcohol prior to Gastric Bypass

I have gone through Chemotherapy & Radiation

I had a wig but never wore it. I viewed wearing it as making people aroun d me comfortable and @ 10 years old going through chemo I didn't want to do that.

My arm was supposed to be amputated when I was 9.

I weigh 380 lbs & I am SOON TO BE A FORMER FAT GIRL

Things that make you go hmmm.

So my surgery is scheduled for Tuesday (5 days away). I am down 12 lbs. My surgeon wanted me to loose 20-25lbs. Since he has office hours tomorrow, that means I get to call him bright and early in the morning. They way I see it is this I can definitely loose 3 pounds by Tuesday. However if I am doing clear liquids for 48 hours prior to surgery and a bowel prep wouldn't that give me another 2 lbs at least??

Which would be about a 5 lbs and a net loss of 17 lbs. Hopefully, I am correct in my thinking! If not, my surgery will be in 2-3 weeks which isn't so bad. I am so close. I know that either way it will definitely be happening this month. I am SO excited. I truly can not wait to start my new life.

New motto that is getting me through:

If it was easy for me to loose weight, I wouldn't have considered having Gastric Bypass.

And my personal motto:

I am the strongest person I know!

Santa didn't bring this Jew Girl toys!

Hi my name is Marla. I am Jewish & NO I DO NOT GET A PRESENT FOR EACH OF THE 8 NIGHTS OF CHANUKAH!!! I truly enjoy Chanukah. Allow me to elaborate on some things:

- I do not have Christmas tree, have never had one, and will never have one.

- I don't have a Chanukah bush either. Will never have one.

- I did have my photo taken while on Santa's lap. I was about six. I was in Boston with my dad. I had to go to the hospital to have a bone scan of my arm. They inject with you with dye so that your insides show up in different colors on a monitor. Unfortunately, you need to wait about an hour or 2 from injection till scan so the dye can travel through your veins. Well, I had/ have really bad veins. Long story short, I was held down by 2 nurses so that they could use a vein at the bottom of my foot. Horrible pain. They aren't allowed to use the bottom of feet anymore. Well after my dad and I had time to kill so we went to Filene's in Downtown Crossing. I think my dad felt really bad that I was in so much pain and traumatized, that he let me have my picture taken with Santa. Was fun though!!

- While growing up, my family did Chanukah gift giving in one night. My father owned (has since retired) a retail bike store. As, he couldn't be home each night of Chanukah we did gifts all in one night. No, we did not each get 8 gifts. Birthdays are a bigger deal in my family.

- I have a Menorah. I truly enjoy lighting the candles. NO, my parents do not let my brother and I make a wish & blow out the candles.

- Chanukah Harry does not exist. He does not bring good Jewish boys and girls presents. YOUR PARENTS GIVE YOU PRESENTS FOR CHANUKAH! He exists only in a Saturday Night Live skit. Which was hilarious by the way! And no, contrary to popular belief Chanukah Harry is not dating the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy!!

Chanukah was good to me this year.

List of Presents:

Parents- A really cool hair thing with rhinestones and a great black beaded bracelet.

Ethan (brother) - Urban Outfitters Room Spray (Honeysuckleish) and a rose bath bomb, complete with petals.

Molly - World Poker Tour Plug & Play Texas Hold'em, a journal, and a coloring book (of the movie Madagascar) & crayons to bring with me to the hospital.

Sarah - Black clutch purse (shockingly I didn't have one) & Shalom gum!!

Ali - heroes of the Torah (the set of 4) drinking glasses!

Kelly - Monkey alarm clock (yes it makes monkey noises), a handmade necklace, a handmade purse, a t-shirt, and lotion from her parents. It smells like buttercream frosting. So good.

Nan- A truly awesome bracelet!

And I still have to exchange gifts with some NY friends as I was in Boston for the Holidays. Fun Fun!! I have done very well so far though!!

MARLA'S RANTS ON THE NYC TRANSIT STRIKE 0F 2005!

Oh my F ' ing gawd! For my readers who don't know: I was living and working in Manhattan. I was laid off in October due to lack of work. Not a big deal, because the company is paying my health insurance through the end of March 2006. I from Boston, so I have been traveling back and forth between my place in Manhattan and my parent's house. I am in the slow process of moving back home after my surgery.

Well, as I had pre-admission testing on Tuesday at my hospital in NYC I was there for the start of the transit strike. I arrived back in NYC Monday afternoon hoping that the strike would not occur. I stayed up till midnight to find out that the transit workers were going on strike at 3 am!!

I will now explain my dealings with the ramifications of the strike on tuesday & wednesday, then I will rant!

Tuesday I had to be at the hospital at 7:30 am. I woke up at 5:30 am not knowing what to expect with the strike. I left my building at 6:30 am to attempt to get a cab. By 6:40 I was in a cab, and learning about the modified fare changes. Well, long story short this is what I learned:

To travel below 96th street (between 5am and 11 am) all cars and cabs need four people. The driver of the cab counts as one of the four.

When you enter a cab you are charged a flat $10 to travel within that zone. When and if you cross into another zone it is $5. So if you travel within three zones it is $20.


Okay no big deal I was happy to get a cab. It cost me $20 to get the hospital. Normally it is $12 and change prior to the tip. Well all the cabs are stopping and picking up additional passengers to follow that 4 person rule. Still not a big deal. By 7 am I was at the hospital. The ride takes about 20 minutes.

I left the hospital at 10:30, got a cab right away although traffic was horrid. I didn't get home till 2 hours later. My hospital is above 96 street. And when I enter the cab there are already 2 other passengers. The cab couldn't go below 96 street as it was before 11am without 3 passengers. The girl got into the cab at 9 am. The male passenger got into the cab at 10 am and I got into the cab at 10:30. Thank gawd we were all going below 96 street. At one point it took 30 minutes to go from 114 street to 110 street. Only 4 blocks!! No wonder it took that cab 2 hours to get me back to my place. OY VEY!!!!

Yesterday (wednesday) I was coming back to Boston on Greyhound. Such the drama. Fortunately I was smart enough to take the 7am bus instead of the 8am bus I normally take. I got up at 4:30 am, left my building at 5:30 am. Went to the ATM on the corner, was able to get a cab right away. Got to Port Authority without issue. The bus leaves at 7am.... normally the start of rush hour. We take the Lincoln tunnel in to jersey instead of driving uptown. We never would have gotten out of Manhattan. Once out of the tunnel, we hop on the garden state and drive towards the GW bridge, to get into the Bronx because that is how you go on 95. Gawd, it took 2 hours. One hour of which was waiting to get to and over the bridge. N ormally the whole thing would take 40 minutes.

Well I made it to Boston in one exhausted piece. The strike better be over when I go back to NYC on Wednesday.

7 miliion people without mass transit. In the middles of winter, so very very wrong. The strike is illegal under the Taylor law and they union broke the court ordered indjuction not to strike. Silly people, management and employees will all be fined, some employees will be fired and some management will go to jail. Silly people.

Drivers in NYC are dumb. They honk during gridlock even when the light is red. They block the intersections just because the have a green light.

I am done ranting. Hopefully it will be over soon. I think the union and mta are resuming talks today about getting the workers back to work and resuming contract negotiations. Thank gawd!

I am a loser!

I lost 4 lbs!!!! WAHOOO! Ok, so here is the deal. I am down about 9-10 out of the 20-25 lbs that my surgeon wants me to loose. They haven't told me that they need to reschedule the surgery again. Thank gawd!! Anyways, I am going next week to get weighed as my surgery is planned for Tuesday January 3. I am shootoing for an 8 lb loss this week. I just nee to keep busting my ass and everything will work out. I am getting soooo excited!!

Back in the land of Blog!!

So I took a break from my blog for a bit. That can be viewed as a good thing or a bad thing. I have gotten over my surgery being rescheduled. It really isn't that big of a deal. I have waited this long. I might as well wait a bit longer if it decreases my risk. All in all I am going to have this done. My feeling is if I could loose any amount of weight easily, I wouldn't have even considered gastric bypass. I just can't believe I have stayed the same weight for about 3 months.

Atleast I didn't gain weight. I was able to stop rapidly gaining. So that is an indirectly a plus. Once, I have the surgery it won't matter that my surgery date was originally postponed. All that will matter is that I will have had it done.

I go on Tuesday for another fun filled day of pre-admission testing. Gotta love peeing in a cup and getting blood drawn. Such a pain in my large ass. I have no veins. You can't draw blood from my right arm and to make it even better I had chemotherapy when I was 9 and my veins are basically shot now from it. OH, and I hate needles. I would rather pee in a cup every single day for the rest of my life, then get blood drawn. So, far no medical professional has accepted that offer.

Last time I went to pre- admission testing I got a 95% on my test. On Tuesday I will get a 100% because I now know the correct answer. Too bad that don't let you keep the test, I want to put it on my parent's refridgerator! I am such a baby with stuff like that. I will 26 in Feb. and I want to put my test on the fridge! Oh well!

I just hope I have lost some weight or they will postpone my surgery again. OY VEY!!! Wish me luck & please send me loose weight happy vibes!! :) I am going to bed and dream about the weight loss fairy!

Rescheduled Surgery For Moi

So my surgery has been rescheduled. Tuesday January 3, 2006 is the new day. I went for pre-admission/ pre-op testing last Tuesday. I haven't lost enough weight. So that is why my surgery is being postponed. All is good though. it really isn't a big deal. In the words of Emril, it's time to kick it up a notch.